Pilot Human Laboratory Study of Alcohol Approach Bias Modification (AABM) for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

Heavy-drinking non-treatment seeking male community volunteers with a diagnosis of AUD will receive 2 weeks of AABM training preceded and followed by a 1-day ADP session. AABM training is a computer training program that participants interact with by pushing and pulling a joystick. Participants are asked to respond to the format of a presented picture, irrespective of the pictures' content. Training effect is achieved by presenting alcohol pictures in push format only and non-alcoholic drinks in pull format only. Training is conducted in 3 sessions per week for 2 weeks, for a total of 6 sessions. The ADP session is a one day human laboratory session taking place at the SFVA Medical Center. This human laboratory session involves the self-administration of alcoholic beverages by research participants under highly structured, observed conditions in order to evaluate the effects of the study intervention (AABM training) on alcohol craving and alcohol consumption. The investigators hoped to recruit 12 participants to enroll and start the clinical trial over the course of 1 year.